With numerous success including winning the World Championship 2009, Blackwing is the deck to beat this metagame. Largely unaffected by the Restriction List for the Asian format, Blackwing has an advantage with the lack of Starlight Road.

Blackwing’s biggest strength lies in Black Whirlwind; allowing a consistent flow of monsters. Having access to an arsenal of Synchro monsters makes it very versatile; able to response to almost every situation.

Playing BlackwingBlackwing is mainly a Aggro-Control deck; it aims to dominate game through flooding the field. Generally when Black Whirlwind is in play, a Blackwing player would want to summon either Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn or Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame to fetch Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow, Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind or Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North, accordingly to situation. Kalut provides a 1400 ATK boost for your Blackwing monsters, while Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind and Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North provides options through the Synchro monsters. Icarus Attack has no activation timing, making it possible to chain to a spell or trap to generate a 2 for 3 trade. Ability to main Royal Oppression without affecting the deck itself also makes Blackwing strong against most decks that are heavy on Special summoning.

While Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn is on the field, special summon Blackwing – Bora the Spear and Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind. Using Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn’s effect to focus on Blackwing – Bora the Spear, making it ATK 5000. Tune Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn and Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind for Scrap Dragon or Infernity Doom Dragon. Activate Scrap Dragon’s or Infernity Doom Dragon’s effect to take out opponent’s monster, and direct attack for 5000 damage with Bora. A potential One-Turn-Kill.

When Black Whirlwind is on the field, summon Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North and choose to have the both trigger effects to go on the chain as follow:Chain 1: Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North’s effectChain 2: Black Whirlwind’s effectHaving Black Whirlwind’s effect at Chain 2, prevents your Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North’s effect being negated by Royal Oppression or Divine Wrath. However, do note that this is only useful for flooding, since Oppression will still be able to negate your Synchro summon.

Playing against BlackwingBottomless Trap Hole and Trap Hole are extremely effective as they stop the Blackwing player from gaining a card through Black Whirlwind.My Body as a Shield is decent in stopping Icarus Attack, turning it into a 2 for 1.Dust Tornado is able to take out Black Whirlwind and Royal Oppression. As much as possible, do take out Black Whirlwind as it will heavily slow down the Blackwing player.

Despite being heavily teched against, Blackwing is still a very strong deck due to its consistency and versatility. Expect about 30-50% of the players to be playing Blackwing.